Smarty’s Top Social Media Predictions for 2023
We don’t know the future…or DO we?! All of us here at Smarty Social Media certainly feel there is a shift in the air for social, but you don’t have to work at a social agency to feel it too. TikTok has changed the way we share information – and fundamentally changed us in the process.
Now we like our frames tall and our sentences short! We want to search and find, instantaneously. We like to click-to-buy in 10 seconds, and laugh in 5. We want our voice overs to sound like robots, and our dances to be repeatable. We want to see what we want to see, and nothing else! We want to say what we want to say, and no one’s going to tell us not to!
Taking those aspects of our social-selves into account, here are some of our insight-based predictions for next year and beyond!
1. Platforms will continue to compete for creator loyalty with monetization strategies
We predict that TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter will all sweeten the deal with their creators in 2023, with the hope to make their platform the priority. This will ultimately drive more content and monthly active users to social apps.
2. Interest-based algorithms will roll out across most platforms
We learned a lot about the TikTok algorithm in 2022. Now that the secret is out, other leading platforms (including Instagram and more recently Facebook) have started updating our feeds with less content from people we know and more content from niche communities we have shown an interest in.
3. Mastering short-form vertical video will become mandatory
Short-form vertical video is not only a format, it’s a style of content. Brands and creators have used it to be more entertaining, conversational, and real — giving birth to a new style of social. Brands who rely heavily on static images and long-form video are missing out on opportunities to make deeper connections with more people interested in your product or service.
4. People will resist against the algorithm and migrate to decentralized platforms
Decentralized social networks will become a viable alternative to mainstream social media platforms in the coming years. This is due in part to issues such as the user’s lack of control and censorship.
5. Social SEO will become an important part of paid social
Keywords have become a hot-topic on social in 2022, with the imminent cookie-less world. For paid ads, targeting opportunities may expand into search keywords, hashtags, location tagging, or other discoverable elements. Hashtag targeting is already available on TikTok, so the likelihood of expansion on Meta or other social platforms is high.
Whether or not these particular predictions turn out to be correct (spoiler alert: they will!), the evolution of social media as we know it is happening. Learning how to be changeable and embrace “what’s new” as an exciting adventure is going to be essential. We’re all in it together, let’s see where this year takes us!
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